Many ion implantation steps are performed throughout the fabrication of semiconductor devices, in particular during front end processing. During this process, a photoresist is used to mask off a region to be implanted, and ions are implanted into the desired implant region. The implant can be, for example, arsenic, boron, or phosphorus implants. The high energy ions used in these steps carbonize the photoresist crust, dehydrate and crosslink the photoresist and cause breakage of the photoresist ring structures, and leave inorganic material within the outer surface of the photoresist. This crust makes the photoresist extremely difficult to remove, especially in cases of high energy/high dosage implants such as used during source/drain implants. Implanted photoresist is usually removed from the surface using a combination of ashing followed by treatment with H2SO4 and H2O2. Mixtures of H2SO4 and H2O2 (SPM) have also been used without ashing. These processes are undesirable at newer technology nodes because they do not meet material loss requirements, do not completely remove the higher dose implanted photoresist, are time consuming processes, and require multiple steps. In the case of memory devices, the H2SO4/H2O2 chemistries are also undesirable because they are not compatible with tungsten. For high-k metal gate devices, TiN, Ti, and Ta compatibility is very important, especially since current process, such as the afore-mentioned SPM process, are not compatible with these materials. There is therefore a need for improved stripping compositions for removal of high energy/high dosage ion implanted photoresist that are compatible with silicon and also with Ti, TiN, W or Ta during the stripping process.